Small World

Occasionally, I am reminded that the internet has really made it possible to "meet" folk from around the world whose lives would never have otherwise crossed mine.

It was one such individual that I have occasionally corresponded with after finding out about his work from another blogger, and viewing his photos on flickr. As soon as I saw the cover, I new this had to be the same fellow:


Sure enough, Trond, aka the KNITKID, pulled together his great Knitting Project into book form: HatHeads: 1 Man + 2 Knitting Needles = 50 Fun Hat Designs The book is a peek into the crazy 20 months and approximately 200 hats created during this time. Throughout the book are glorious photos of the hats and their recipients. The beginning portion of the book includes the story of how the Knitting Project came into being, and while it is a very small section, I really enjoyed reading about it. The hats in the book vary in size from Small (17.75-19 inch circumference) to Large (21.25 - 22.75 inch circumference) - there's a handy reference before the patterns start to help narrow things down if you know what size hat you need to knit. Of course, there are some tips on size adjustment.

Each of the hats follow a simple beanie shaped pattern, but are colorful and whimsical. Every hat is presented with a photo of its recipient and a little bit of backstory along with clear instructions and charts (if appropriate). Many of the hats do make use of stranded knitting (fair-isle), so the book may not be fantastic for knitters that are just getting started. At the end of the book, there is a basic hat recipe, along with some information on how to customize your own motif into a hat.

Personally, I was drawn to the book more for the photos and inspiration than anything else - the hat patterns are a bonus - it's simply refreshing to see all the different variations that Trond had come up with during the course of his knitting project, and reading some of the insight behind his work and designs. If you'd like to see a selection of the hats that Trond has knit, have a look at the flickr photoset.

Last Looks

Continuing downcanyon towards the Colorado, you eventually will find yourself walking the benches above the slot that is the lower end of Havasu Canyon before it joins the Colorado. The water is startlingly blue, and reminds me of the summer sky.

The Colorado River, in contrast, is much more green, and can also run chocolate-milk brown during the monsoon season. We were lucky enough to catch a blue heron fishing (he was successful) along the bank. Other wildlife spotted on this trip (though not successfully photographed) include a healthy number of bats and lizards in addition to a rarely seen (for us anyhow) desert fox!

If you are interested in making the visit to Havasu Canyon yourself, you can find information and make your reservations with the Havasupai Tribe. Peak visitation is likely during the summer months - though I personally prefer the shoulder seasons when there are fewer visitors (and temperatures are more suitable for hiking). For those who don't care to hike in or pack in your own gear, it is possible to ride a helicopter or hire a horse service to carry your pack(s) in or out of the canyon.

Magical Travertine

Travertine rims make for some beautiful photography while hiking downcanyon from Mooney falls towards the Colorado River. The calcium carbonate comes out of solution, coating and trapping leaves, sticks and other vegetation while forming miniature dams, rims and terraces.

Amazingly, evidence of historical watercourse changes can be found throughout the entire hike down canyon, provided you know where to look. Often I found myself climbing down (or up as I went back up towards the campground) old travertine terraces that have since been covered by canyon grape and other vegetation. In some regions of the canyon, I spotted silt and travertine-covered tree roots. Based on the relative elevation of these abandoned travertine terraces relative to the current water level in addition to the quantity of vegetation present, I imagine it's been quite some time since the watercourse has changed its preferred location - it makes me wonder how many large floods have occurred in the canyon, resulting in major changes to the watercourse.

Given how fast some of the vegetation grows, in addition to the evidence of travertine already covering the man-made dams near the falls, I suspect the canyon will recover relatively quickly from the flood of August 2008. Regardless of the changes, the area is stunning to visit.

Falling Waters

In case you haven't guessed, I escaped for a backpacking trip to Havasu Canyon. It's been 8 years since we last visited, and we were curious to see the changes since the the flash flood from last August.

The biggest difference occurred at and above Navajo Falls - Navajo Falls, unfortunately, is no longer (you can see what it looked like in its glory via the link above). During the course of the flood, the stream cut a new path, eating away at the relatively soft embankments to form two new waterfalls while abandoning the watercourse over the old Navajo falls. Unfortunately, we had some issues with our camera that went undiscovered until we got home, so many of our photos of the various falls did not turn out satisfactorily :(

Anyhow, this is Havasu Falls, no longer a dual split fall - all the water now flows out what was previously the right hand channel (looking at the falls). In addition to the change in waterflow, the travertine pools below the falls seem to have taken a hammering. Some work has been done to try to reconstruct the pools, and travertine is already starting to cover the man-made dams.

Mooney falls remains largely unchanged, with the exception of the silting up of the pool below the falls in addition to the loss of some of its travertine dams as well. Similarly to Havasu Falls, the tribe has installed some rock walls in the pool, to encourage the reformation of the terraced travertine.

Mineral Waters

Mother Nature sure has a way with colors! There's something about mineral laden water and red sandstone walls along with the greenery of the surrounding riparian zone that always makes me happy.

Stay tuned for more photos from the land of blue-green waters!

Inspiration Found.

Sometimes, I lose my kitchen mojo. Okay, of late, it seems to happen a lot - I blame it on the ambient oven-like temperatures down here in the desert southwest. Sometimes I get over my slump by flipping through my piles of cookbooks - other times, I get ideas from my blogroll (though in all fairness, not all are listed because I've forsaken bloglines for google reader). Still other times I resort to PBS (generally on the weekend, and only because I do not have Food Network). When all else fails, my friends usually help me out by pointing me in a direction.

A recent suggestion was to head over to the Pioneer Woman blog and check out her kitchen experiments - and more specifically the recipe for this salad - it suited my mood perfectly - fresh, chock full of veggies - and no cook! I happened to have some leftover roast chicken in the fridge that shredded up nicely and went right in. I will warn you though - this makes a LOT of salad - so if you're not feeding a small army, nor are you prepared to be eating this for the next week, I recommend scaling it down some.

Go have a look at Ree's blog - it's beautifully done - all of it - not just the part about the cooking though all those photos in the cooking section seem to always make me hungry!

Craftacular - finishing with Felt

I'm finishing off the week with a book on felt:

As the title states, Feltique is a book that covers a variety of techniques and projects in working with felt. The book features projects from various artists - including some adorable softies, some great neclaces (see covershot!), various bowls/vessels, a sweet owl coinpurse, and a needle felted dog by Laurie Sharp of Woolpets!

Projects are separated into chapters by technique and are varied for a wide range of skill levels. The first chapter makes use commercial felt - these projects generally involve cutting and sewing sheets of commercially-made felt. The second chapter focuses on wet felting - a fun, if sometimes messy endeavour. Chapter three is all about needle-felting - great for getting out aggresions, but probably not suitable for small children without supervision due to the use of a sharp barbed needle-felting tool. The fourth chapter is about fulled felt - projects that involve throwing knitted or crocheted objects into the wash with the intent of shrinking it down into a denser fabric - if you don't knit, worry not, some of the projects make use of already knitted sweaters - thrift store finds or even rescues from your own closet. The last chapter combines various techniques into one finished project.

I thought this was a fun book that definitely opened my eyes into new ways of using felt as a fabric/medium. Would you like my copy? US only please, leave me a comment and make sure I can figure out how to find you to let you know if you've won. The Random Number Generator will be pressed into service for this book next weekend.

Craftacular - Flowers for Everyone

Next up - a craft that makes use of wee squares of fabric and turns them into beautiful floral embellishments:

I seem to collect fabric, though I definitely don't sew anywhere near as much as I knit. In any case Kanzashi is another craft that can help me use up my fabric stash without having to get out the sewing machine.

If you are unfamiliar with Kanzashi, it is an artform involving the folding of fabric squares to form petals that are then assembled into flowers. The art of Kanzashi originates in Japan and are still used to adorn the hair of geisha and maiko. Traditional Kanzashi can be very elaborate and realistic in appearance - the designs in this book are much more suited towards beginners in the craft.

Kanzashi in Bloom is broken into four chapters - the first chapter provides an introduction to the history of the art form (and in case you would like to support an indie artist skilled in the craft, there are a couple links to folks who make their creations available for purchase). The second chapter focuses on materials and basic techniques - with lots of clear photographs to guide you on your way. Once you get the hang of the basics, the third and fourth chapters focus on projects - wearables (chapter three) and gifts (chapter four).

While this book does not get you into the more elaborate Kanzashi (chrysanthemums, lotus flowers, etc), it does teach you the basic skills to build upon. The internet has proven to be a wealth of knowledge, with several tutorials on Youtube, Flickr and various blogs.

Craftacular

A trio of crafty book reviews coming to you this week - each focused on a different tecnique, and all great for embellishment projects.

The first book is definitely focused primarily on embellishment, rather than on projects that can stand alone:

Ribbon Embroidery focuses on simple stitches that can be used to personalize anything that you could embroider upon. After a brief introduction identifying tools and materials and reviewing some tips and techniques, the book is separated into three chapters beginning with: Small Repeating Stitches, followed by Line Stitches, and finishing with Filled Stitches.

Each chapter opens with a large photograph of a sampler, illustrating a variety of the stitches taught in that chapter. Within the chapter, each stitch is demonstrated in a variety of sizes and ribbons, followed by step by step instructions, each illustrated with a photograph. In most cases I had no trouble following along - however the technique of making french knots still manages to elude me (yes, believe it or not, I have actually tried my hand at embroidery before!). My favorites of the stitches are the woven wheel (looks like rosettes when executed in ribbon), fishbone stitch, fern stitch, and couching stitch.

Overall, if you're relatively new to embroidery - or looking for some inspiration, this book is a good one to add to your library. Would you like my copy? Please leave me a comment - and a way to get a hold of you in case you're the winner - US only please, on account of the postage. I'll dig out the handy Random Number Generator some time next week.

Squee!

Seems like after a year or so of waiting, my patience has paid off - I've finally cleared the waiting list for the Hello Yarn Fiber Club!

Image from HelloYarn

I've always loved Adrian's work and I never seem to be on top of things when she updates her shop, so I'm excited to be on the receiving end of her fiber club....now then, I should probably make nice with my wheels and spindles in preparation...

Speaking of Preserves...

Seems like a whole host of folk that I follow in blogland and Flickr are talking about their gardens - so far, I have not been brave enough to try to put in a raised bed garden in my back yard - the yard is quite small, and currently landscaped liberally with cactus. Also, having grown up in the northern Midwest, I can't seem to wrap my brain around the growing season down here in the desert. For those that don't have gardens, I've been enjoying hearing about their local farmers markets as well.

The abundance of produce, inspiration from others has made me more intrigued by preserving foods - the only method that I have tried my hand at is dehydration (mostly due to the hiking and backpacking activities - though I have to admit to really enjoying the convenience of prepackaged freeze-dried meals).

Well-Preserved appears to be a nice introductory book in trying one's hand in small-batch preserving. The book touches on several varieties of preserving fresh foods including canning, pickling, freezing, preserving in oil and curing/smoking. The book is further broken into sections for fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts and fungi, and meat, poultry and fish (the last six being grouped together into two separate groups of three).

Within each of the chapters are several recipes, followed by three recipes in which to use to the master recipe as an ingredient. In most cases, the putups for the master recipes range from 3-4 pints once prepared. While not all of the recipes include a photo, the photos that are present are beautifully done and certainly make me want to give several of the recipes a try...perhaps I should join the local CSA after all!

What to do...

When berry season arrives and you can't seem to stop yourself from buying more berries than you could possibly consume before they go past their peak?

Well...you could bake a delicious cake layered with berries...

or you could try your hand at preserve making :) read on for the recipe. I can tell you that this tastes absolutely fantastic served warm over dark chocolate mousse cake and vanilla ice cream...just sayin'

Changeable

In addition to all the wildlife, we got a chance to observe a wide variety of weather patterns move in and out of the Canyon all day.

Our hike in started with shifting rain clouds - they'd move in, veiling the view of the canyon, then shift and offer some clear tantalizing views.

As the day progressed, the sky would clear, then cloud back over in seemingly random intervals. Often times the clouds would be accompanied by a very welcome brisk breeze, other times, they would drop some cooling rain.


Hiking in the Grand Canyon during the summer certainly poses some additional challenges - especially with the temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. We opted to hike in early, stopping for a midafternoon siesta in whatever shade was available during the heat of the day, finishing the evening with an additional hike out to a viewpoint with hopes of catching some sunset photos (sadly, the cloud cover was too thick to make for a brilliant sunset).

If you've got a hankering to vicariously visit the Grand Canyon, and happen to be in the Phoenix Metro Area tomorrow night, you might want to check out the slideshow by Gary Ladd at the Glendale Public Library.

A Grand Visit

It's been a long while since I've visited the Big Ditch in northern Arizona - I'd nearly forgotten how glorious it can be...of course, I personally think it is more glorious when visited in the shoulder season...and when hiking outside of the main corridor...however, the corridor trails do have their uses...mainly, when record setting heat is forecast, there is much to be said for having easy water access at each 1.5 mile point on the way out ;)

Plenty of wee rodents and brave birds to observe - the rock squirrels are a boisterous bunch - brave, and highly accustomed to seeing people, visitors are reminded to not feed or otherwise coax or entice the wildlife. In addition to plenty of rock squirrels and birds (they were not cooperating with my photography, I'm afraid - but in addition to the wrens and ravens, I also saw a few hummingbirds and a condor!), we also saw some mule deer, a few bighorn sheep, several spiny lizards, some whiptails and an elk with an impressive rack. The rodents and birds can be especially brave in established areas, so much so that while our back was turned preparing dinner, I heard a small thunk in the darkness - it turned out a rather portly mouse managed to vault into our open ammo box (provided for storing food and other smellables) - luckily, as soon as we shone our lights upon him, he lept back out!

Dyejob of another variety...

...or Blue...it's not just for old ladies ;)

I recently got a haircut - had to do something to get my hair up off my neck what with the 110+ (~45 C) temps here in the desert (yes, I know we have air conditioning, but still, any time spent outdoors is simply broiling!) Anyhow, I thought I'd do something different and add in some blue and purple (the matching shirt was just an unplanned bonus).

It isnt really a dye-job, rather it's a set of extensions - the salon suggested those instead of real colorwork because they are lower maintenance and a lot less stress on my hair. Indoors, they aren't terribly visible...

...but the color does pop out a lot better in the sun! In case you're wondering, these should be able to stay in 2-3 months, and they are seamless/weftless. The biggest thing I've noticed so far with them is the texture of the extension does not closely match my own hair - it's more fine and definitely more coarse (but I suspect that might be due to the color treatment). It took a little while to get accustomed to the join, but otherwise, it's been a relatively low fuss way to get some color into my hair :)

So... about that jumpity

Well, unlike last year, I actually remembered to bring my camera to TNNA. As the camera is not allowed on the show floor, I mostly forgot I had it with me - and then simply felt awkward asking people if I could snap photos with them. So the only photo I have is the jumpity in the hotel room - how undignified ;)

I shared a room with Marie and we meet some great folks this year and bumped into some of the knitterati again. Amy and Jillian from Knitty, Julia and Kate from Twist Collective, Cookie A (who has a new book coming out soon), Anne Hanson, Guido, the Ravelry Crew, Miriam, Laura, Janel (whose next book is due out soon, and the patterns look just as wonderfully original as in her first book - go to her blog to check previews)

We of course went to North Market and the short north district to partake several times of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. And they are indeed splendid - if ever you are in Columbus, you should make sure to get some :)

While I did enjoy seeing all the yarn and knitting goodies, I had the best time meeting with and connecting with all the people - it's always a good time - though I find now I'm pining for reasons to find myself in Portland in time for Sock Summit, even though I know the classes are all sold out!

An Ode.

To Malabrigo yarn.



Speaking of Malabrigo yarn, I've restocked the Malabrigo lace and brought in Malabrigo Sock into the shop...and it is lovely :)

Happy Birthday!

As we roll into the 4th of July weekend, celebrating the Independence Day here in the United States, I'm going to also celebrate Spritely Goods' launch with a wee sale - it was July several years back that I got the shop up and running on its own domain and it's been a wonderful adventure since then. Pop over and have a look and see if you find something to your liking :)

Thanks to all of you, for making this small part of my own Independence "dream" become reality!

Jump for Joy...

We have a winner :) Uh. Yeah. That's me, getting in a random self portrait...jumping on a hotel bed...more about that Later. Congratulations to Nikki - I'll send you an email so you can let me know where to send The Best-Dressed Knitted Bear off to :)

Dressed and Accessorized

Need some ideas for fun knits for gifts? Well, whether you're knitting for a kid or a teddy bear afficionado, this book may be right up your alley.

The Best-Dressed Knitted Bear is a great book for making a variety of softies and includes patterns for six styles of bear (small, medium and large of varying complexity) along with outfits and accessories for each (a total of 18 different costumes). The bears' costumes/themes include the hula bear cover model, a bear ready for a safari adventure, a princess, a ballerina, a wizard, a dashing pirate, a cowboy and more. While the outfits in the book are designed to fit the knitted bears, there's no reason you couldn't knit these costumes up for a like-sized doll.

The small bears are about 8-inches in height, the medium bears about 11-inches in height, and the large bear about 14-inches in height.

Would you like my copy of the Best Dressed Knitted Bear? Leave me a comment and I'll do a random drawing in a couple weeks! (US only please)